Metro News & Reviews

Transportation headlines, Friday, March 5

The headline of the LA Weekly story is certainly provocative: “Black Lung Lofts.” The story focuses on whether residential housing should be built adjacent to freeways in Los Angeles despite studies that have shown that poor air quality near the roads impacts childrens’ health. As the headline indicates, the Weekly doesn’t think it’s a good idea.

A new survey by auto clubs in Europe finds that Munich has the continent’s best transit system, reports USA Today. That’s pretty impressive for a city that was in ruins 65 years ago at the end of World War II. Munich, by the way, is one of three cities vying for the 2018 Winter Olympics — if it wins, Munich would become the first city to host both the Summer and Winter games. Having good mass transit probably can only help their bid.

New York’s Penn Station certainly isn’t much to look at — it’s actually big cavern-like thing underneath Madison Square Garden. Not only that, its signage is a mess, opines Slate. Visitors find it confusing and it doesn’t help that the departures sign includes info for Amtrak and New Jersey Transit but not the Long Island Rail Road.

The rest of today’s transportation headlines, compiled by the Metro library, are posted after the jump.

DIY Bus Tracker Display (makes it easy for anyone with some computer savvy to show estimated bus arrival times on a display in a building lobby, a storefront window, etc.)
Transit Chicago
Downtown Parking Changes Underway (Parking for 3 hours in downtown Santa Monica and not paying a dime for the privilege is soon to be a thing of the past)
Santa Monica Daily Press

Who’s Poor In America? US Tweaks How It Defines Poverty (Experts say it’s a giant step forward from the old poverty threshold, which is based on a 1955 cost of an emergency food diet and does not factor in several considerations, including transportation)
Christian Science Monitor